Over the past four years, Quad leaders have met six times, including twice virtually. Quad Foreign Ministers have met eight times.
Quad-sceptics never understood the growing relevance and significance of the Quad (a Quadrilateral initiative undertaken by India, US, Japan and Australia) in the emerging dynamics of geopolitics until they saw a clear articulation of its goals reflected in the “Wilmington Declaration”, which came out as a consensus document at Delaware recently. Those of them who argued in the past that Quad will not succeed and will phase out are bound to change their views. India in Quad remains a very strong pole and this was reflected in the leader’s summit. The leader’s summit has also demonstrated that Quad will not get confined to geopolitics only, though the mandate remains how the Indo-Pacific region will be made “free, open, inclusive, prosperous and rule based”. The Quad slowly and steadily has become wide encompassing in terms of its mandate and objectives.
The Quad was established to be a global force for good. But it was least understood by the rest of the world in general and China in particular. It is generally believed that the Quad was established to counterbalance China in the Indo-Pacific. It was not necessarily so despite China’s increasing force posturing in the Indo-Pacific. Even after the Wilmington declaration, China tested the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which has sent strong waves across the Indo-Pacific region. A stable and rule based Indo-Pacific region remains a part of the priority for the Quad.
The year 2024 has been remarkable for the Quad because it has been executing a number of projects that would benefit partner countries across the Indo-Pacific region such as the Pacific, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean Region. The Quad is also working together and is expecting to have tangible outcomes based on Indo-Pacific partners’ priorities. It must be emphasised here that the Quad is leading a number of projects including health security relating to pandemics and disease; respond to natural disasters; strengthen their maritime domain awareness and maritime security; mobilize and build high-standard physical and digital public infrastructure; invest in and benefit from critical and emerging technologies; confront the threat of climate change; bolster cyber security; and cultivate the next generation of technology leaders. In the larger ambit of Quad functioning, India’s role is pivotal and becoming increasingly important.
India has become a torch bearer for many of the responsibilities the Quad members have undertaken for finding global solution to the global problems. Through its action, India has reduced the dependency on the use of the fossil fuel less than 60 per cent almost 8 years before the deadline as was stipulated in Paris Agreement. The onus now lies on the United States’ as to how they will reduce the dependency on the use of fossil fuel and concerns emanating from climate change can get addressed in a holistic manner. The increasing carbon foot prints are a major source of concern. Hence, India has emerged as a proponent of ‘sustainable living’. The developed countries like the US and Japan in Quad need to learn and change their consumption pattern.
It is interesting to note that over the past four years, Quad leaders have met six times, including twice virtually. Quad Foreign Ministers have met eight times, most recently in Tokyo in July. There are Quad country representatives who interact on a regular basis mainly to exchange ideas and advance shared priorities. At Wilmington summit, each Quad government has committed to work through their respective budgetary processes to secure robust funding for Quad priorities in the Indo-Pacific region to ensure an enduring impact. The Quad governments also have decided to work with their respective legislatures to deepen interparliamentary exchanges, and encourage other stakeholders to deepen engagement with Quad counterparts. In fact, members of Congress in the United States have already announced the creation of a bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Quad Caucus which would certainly help in executing the programmes at a faster pace.
As the issues of global health are unfolding and the debates on health security have been gaining momentum, there is a forward movement in Quad partnership. In 2023, the Quad had announced the Quad Health Security Partnership to strengthen coordination and collaboration in support of health security in the Indo-Pacific. The Quad Health Security Partnership is going to be gaining priority. The Quad at Wilmington has launched the historic Quad Cancer Moonshot, a collective effort to leverage public and private resources to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer in the Indo-Pacific, with an initial focus on cervical cancer.
Quad countries have also shown their commitment to support health security and resiliency efforts across the region, including continued support for the Pandemic Fund. India will be hosting a workshop on pandemic preparedness and release a white paper outlining emergency public health responses. The Quad countries have also agreed to deepen humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR). Quad governments are working to ensure readiness to rapidly respond, including through pre-positioning of essential relief supplies, in the event of a natural disaster; this effort extends from the Indian Ocean region, to Southeast Asia, to the Pacific. This is going to be important for Quad in the foreseeable future.
India will also take the lead in improving maritime domain awareness and bolster maritime security. Monitoring the activities in their exclusive economic zones—including unlawful activity will become a priority across the Indo-Pacific region. As a part of providing maritime training, India has a plan to host the first MAITRI workshop next year in 2025.
The Quad also launched a Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network pilot project mainly to pursue shared airlift capacity among the four nations and leverage collective logistics strengths, in order to support civilian response to natural disasters more rapidly and efficiently across the Indo-Pacific region. The Quad will also be delivering quality, resilient infrastructure to the region to increase connectivity, build regional capacity, and meet critical needs.
The discussion on Quad Ports of the Future Partnership at Wilmington was very significant and it will help harness the Quad’s expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific, in collaboration with regional partners. In 2025, Quad partners intend to hold the inaugural Regional Ports and Transportation Conference at Mumbai in India.
The most notable discussion at Wilmington was on harnessing the benefits of emerging and critical technologies. India’s commitment to transition itself from a net importer to a net exporter country will be realised provided there is a consistency between rhetoric and action on the part of the United States. India no more wants to remain as a “chip taker”. It wants to be seen as a “chip maker”. The United States has committed to help India in building a semiconductor fabrication plant. This will obviously augment India’s capacity in emerging and critical technologies.
India’s role in strengthening Quad in the foreseeable future with the help from other partner countries will be increasing. India has reached a level where it can contribute meaningfully in almost all the domains, whether it is cyber security, biotechnology, artificial intelligence or any other area it finds and identifies to collaborate with other members of the Quad for the larger benefit of global good. The “Wilmington Declaration” provided an opportunity to India to showcase its strength and create a win-win situation. Quad is going to stay for the interests of the members of international community and a stable and open Indo-Pacific region.
Dr Arvind Kumar is Professor at School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.